Primary Interview with Ms. Fiester

Date:12/17/2023
Subject: Primary Interview with Ms. Fiester
Assessment:
In the next week I will be investing my time heavily into the interviewing of multiple people in the hopes of finding a mentor. Today I am having an interview with a civil engineer from Green Berg & Farrow named Elena Fiester. She contracts and designs for multiple agencies and develops the buildings from the ground up. Her company does civil, electrical, plumbing, architectural, and mechanical work. Her original degree was in city planning, she worked for the city of Arlington. She would get plans brought to her. She then switched to the other side and became a consent because there was a better incentive for working for the private sector. 
She is a land development manager, but she did not get an environmental degree. Some of her clients include Texas Roadhouse, Ikea, and Home depot. When they try to expand, they like multiple spots but don't know which to pick. Elena researches the plots of land. She has many jobs she has to do and checks for many different issues with the land to make sure it is suitable for them.
In a job, she would have to do multiple things to make sure the land works for the client. Here are some of those things: She may need to conduct an ESA or Environmental Site Assessment. If she needs this ESA completed she contacts Tericon as her Environmental consultant. (This consultant may be another possible interview opportunity for me). These ESAs identify the type of soil, possible oil leaks in the soil, and much more to make sure the land that the agencies would have to work on is a good fit.  After the ESA Elena has to check if the sewer systems or electrical systems need to be extended, which would take extra funds from the client to make that certain plot of land viable. They then ask the city for land permits and identify how long it would take to get the permit. After that, they relay this information to the client. After all this work they make a site investigation report or SIR. In this report they provide data on everything about the plots of land the client is considering and highlight all of the drawbacks of each plot of land. The SIR also identifies how much soil they need to remove or bring to the site to make it construction-ready. They then report to the client and give a personal recommendation on the best site for the client.  
The most challenging part of her job is working with the city and trying to get her plans approved. Sometimes the city asks for changes in the plan but the client doesn’t want the plan to change, she then would have to mediate between the two and try to satisfy the company's wants while staying inside the city's requirements. For example, cities like Dallas have a maximum number of parking spots of 100, but Texas Roadhouse wants 180 parking spots. So then Elena would try to mediate between these by using methods like applying for a development variance, asking for a development waiver, providing additional landscaping to compensate for extra paving, or just paying the fees. 
The most satisfying part of her job is when you go to the groundbreaking ceremony where they invite the city and all of the business representatives of the business in the city. They would put the shovel in the ground and declare the end date of the building and then the grand opening and cutting the ribbon. She likes seeing the project come to light and knows that she has a role in expanding our industries.